Can Australia win the 2019 Cricket World Cup? We take an early look

A lot has changed since Australia lifted the World Cup back in 2015, most of it not particularly pleasant for the Baggy Green. Even so, the 2019 edition is just a year away and Justin Langer needs to seriously start thinking about his expectations.

The recent ODI whitewash by England perhaps showed just how far behind the Australian cricket team are, the 242 run defeat the most brutal of those defeats.

It showed that Langer has a huge mountain to climb if they’re going to challenge in England next year, with Australia dropping to sixth in the ICC rankings.

That hasn’t stopped the bookies pricing them at third favourite behind the hosts and India, with a few bet365 offers pricing them at 5/1.

Despite that, Langer will be worried with a run of form that puts them among the worst in the world on the one day scene.

Captain Tim Paine remains positive, however. Against England there were a number of players missing, including Steven Smith and David Warner who remain suspended, while Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood were also missing among the bowling attack.

That is a significant number of star players. Whether they can comfortably fit back into that team is another story though.

They’ll have to start improving their one day form though between now and next summer. While it’s not integral to do well in tournament cricket, recent tournaments have shown it helps.

The Australian’s win four years ago came with the side going in as the form team, winning 13 of 17 ODIs, while ahead of their 2007 victory it was a similar story.

Where they will have to improve is with the ball. The attack is among the most expensive in the world at 5.92 per over at an average of almost 38 per wicket.

With the bat there is room for improvement too. The nation’s batsmen are totting up around 30 each at the moment, which is an average that falls behind even Scotland.